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Murrill seeks to prevent shield laws
Group asks Congress to intervene in abortion pill clash BY MATTHEW ALBRIGHT and ALYSE PFEIL Staff writers
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill and her Republican counterparts are asking Congress to prevent other states from passing laws that protect doctors who send abortion-inducing drugs to states that have banned them. Louisiana and some other states have criminalized the use of
mifepristone and misoprostol for abortion. The drugs are now considered controlled dangerous substances in those states and can be prescribed only for narrow medical conditions like postpartum hemorrhages or miscarriages. Earlier this year, Louisiana officials charged a New York doctor with sending a Louisiana woman medication for an abortion. But New York Gov. Kathy Hochul refused a request to extradite
the doctor, citing States’ ability to enforce crimia state “shield nal laws within their borders and law” that protects disrupt our constitutional strucabortion providture.” “Every time someone mails ers. abortion pills to Louisiana, it’s a Murrill and 14 State and federal crime,” Murrill other red-state said in a statement. “If the FDA attorneys general Murrill won’t act, Congress must.” sent a letter to As more states consider encongressional leaders Tuesday urging them to bar such shield acting shield laws or expanding laws, which they argue are “bla- existing ones, whether one state tant attempts to interfere with can shield providers from liabil-
ity for breaking another state’s laws around abortion is still an unsettled area of law. “That is inherently a challenge with shield laws and telehealth,” said Carmel Shachar, faculty director of the Health Law and Policy Clinic at Harvard Law School. “At a certain point, for the purposes of abortion bans, the courts will need to decide: Do we treat a telehealth abortion as happening within the state of the provider or within the state of the patient?”
ä See PILL, page 5A
Gulf ‘dead zone’ nearly the size of Connecticut Some money to help address it may be cut
BY MIKE SMITH Staff writer
STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK
Janae Smith, 13, from left; Carson Parker, 9; Payton Brown, 12; Josh Nelson, 19; and Caden Parker, 9, sit Tuesday at a table at The BRidge Agency to share their experiences with the nonprofit.
NONPROFIT GRAPPLES WITH FUNDING CUTS BRidge Agency support part of $800M eliminated by Justice Department
Staff writer
Josh Nelson spent two weeks this summer acting as a mentor for a summer camp run by The BRidge Agency, a nonprofit founded in 2017 that focuses on community outreach in Baton Rouge. During the program, he helped teach leadership and self-advocacy through skits and other activities while also assisting with field trips. This fall, he will be an ambassador for the organization’s youth council, which will help local students develop financial literacy, improve leadership skills and apply to college. Nelson said his role at the summer
camp helped prepare him for it. “That was my two-week basic training, or my orientation,” the 19-year-old said. “I feel like I’m way more confident going into this one, knowing what I’m going into.” Yet it’s not all rosy behind the scenes. The U.S. Department of Justice terminated more than $800 million in grants nationally this year, including one that The BRidge Agency founder Nicole Scott said was going to pay for 80% of the organization’s budget. It’s already had a direct impact, beginning with the summer camp. In previous years, the organization offered eight weeks of programming for children be-
tween 7 and 12 years old and a four-week camp for teenagers. “We had to completely scrap our 7- to 12-year-old program this summer,” she said. “It broke my heart.” The federal funds for The BRidge Agency were part of a $2.9 million DOJ grant awarded to Equal Justice USA, a New York-based organization that works on community violence prevention. Equal Justice distributed grant money to several Louisiana organizations, including Forever Takes a Village in Bogalusa, Silence is Violence in New Orleans and The BRidge Agency.
ä See CUTS, page 4A
“
We had to completely scrap our 7- to 12-year-old program this summer. It broke my heart.
“
BY CHRISTOPHER CARTWRIGHT
NICOLE SCOTT, BRidge Agency founder
The Gulf “dead zone” off Louisiana’s coast was nearly the size of Connecticut this summer, federal researchers reported Thursday, while the Trump administration proposes cuts to some federal funding intended to help address the pollution that contributes to it. Despite the gargantuan size of the lowoxygen zone, covering an area across nearly the entire Louisiana coast west of the Mississippi River, it was smaller than predicted and slightly below the longterm average. It remained, however, far larger than the 2035 goal to reduce it. Federal officials said states have made progress on reducing certain types of nutrient pollution flowing down the Mississippi, which leads to what has become known as the “dead zone” each summer. But they acknowledged that President Donald Trump’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2026 defunds two types of federal grants that assist states in addressing and monitoring pollution.
ä See GULF, page 4A
U.S. envoy arrives in Israel to monitor food distribution BY WAFAA SHURAFA and MELANIE LIDMAN Associated Press
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Israel on Thursday to discuss the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza, as the death toll of Palestinians waiting for food and other aid continued to climb. Witkoff and U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee will inspect food distribution in Gaza on Friday, the White House said. At least 91 Palestinians were killed and more than 600 wounded while attempting to get aid in the past 24 hours, the Gaza Health Ministry said Thursday. The victims included 54 people killed while awaiting food in northern Gaza near the Zikim crossing on Wednesday, the ministry said.
ä See ISRAEL, page 5A
WEATHER HIGH 93 LOW 75 PAGE 8B
Business ......................3B Commentary ................7B Nation-World ................2A Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................4B Opinion ........................6B Comics-Puzzles .....4D-6D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
101ST yEAR, NO. 32